A state abortion ban after six weeks set to take effect following last year’s reversal of Roe v. Wade will not stand.

On Jan. 5, the state Supreme Court ruled 3-2 that the restriction violates the right to privacy laid out in South Carolina’s constitution.

Per the Associated Press, Planned Parenthood South Atlantic’s victory in the suit it filed in July marked the first time a state court gave a definitive ruling that the constitutional right to privacy, one that isn’t explicitly enumerated in the U.S. Constitution, applies to abortion. 

Specifically, the majority decision written by Justice Kaye Hearn states that any abortion restriction must allow a person sufficient time to realize they are pregnant and take “reasonable steps” if they decide to terminate the pregnancy.

The ruling, which struck down the fetal heartbeat restriction signed into law by Gov. Henry McMaster in 2020, keeps South Carolina’s restriction for most abortions set at 20 weeks past fertilization.

The Chronicle reached out to members of Lexington County’s Legislative Delegation for comment on the ruling. The representatives and senators that comprise the delegation are overwhelmingly conservative and Republican, and the reactions received were predictably critical of the court’s decision.

Shane Massey is South Carolina’s Senate Majority Leader. His District 25 covers parts of Aiken, Edgefield, Lexington, McCormick and Saluda counties. 

He called the ruling “a bad decision that misinterprets precedent and the meaning of the state constitution’s privacy clause,” adding that he looks forward to working with Gov. McMaster and his fellow legislators to correct it.

In a written statement, Massey said there is “extensive evidence” that the legislators and voters who approved adding the privacy right to the state constitution in 1970 didn’t intend it to extend to abortion, and “the Supreme Court ... interpreted that right to privacy to mean something very different than what the authors intended or what the voters understood.”

“While South Carolinians have different opinions about what the law should be, very few South Carolinians believe abortion should be legal, with no restrictions, for five months,” he said. “Yet that is what the court has decreed.”

Jay Kilmartin, a Republican state representative elected in November to fill the District 85 seat that covers Chapin and surrounding areas, called himself a staunch conservative in explaining his dissatisfaction.

“I think this is a glaring example of the broken system we have in South Carolina where liberal Republican lawyers in the General Assembly get to hand pick liberal judges,” he said in a statement. “We have Republican members of the Lexington delegation that actually fight hard for the pro abortion side at the state house, but say they are pro-life on the campaign trail.  

“If we hold these politicians accountable for their terrible decisions, the Statehouse would look completely different and more importantly, our court system would better represent the will of the people.”

RJ May, a Republican representative whose District 88 covers an area of the county south of the Town of Lexington, shared a statement issued by the South Carolina Freedom Caucus, the group of hardline conservative legislators for which he serves as vice chair.

The statement deems the state’s judiciary system “structurally corrupt” and “broken,” calling for an overhaul that removes “the death grip of lawyer-legislators who put their thumb on the scales of justice.” 

The caucus also emphasizes the need to put “a strong pro-life law” at the front of the GOP legislative agenda (“one that does not simply regulate abortion but prohibits any intentional taking of innocent human life”) and for pro-life legislators to hold their colleagues accountable when they break promises about abortion policy.

“The State Supreme Court, enabled by the ruling cabal of radical Democrats and liberal Republicans in Columbia, stripped the people of the Palmetto State of their voice through their elected representatives,” the statement says. “Not only did three justices overturn settled law through judicial fiat, they also guaranteed the deaths of hundreds and possibly thousands of more innocent lives.

“Today’s ruling may surprise some. But considering judges in South Carolina are elected by the very lawyer-legislators who then argue before them – lawyer-legislators who have failed to fully defend the unborn – this ruling was sadly predictable.”

Micah Caskey — a Republican representative whose District 89 covers West Columbia, Cayce and Springdale — said he’s taking time to appraise the decision.

"This decision is a surprise and, out of respect for the judicial branch, I think I need to read the 147 pages of their decisions before offering a half-baked hot take,” he said in a statement. “People serious about this issue should demand nothing less."